Wednesday, July 2, 2008

It's a Sushi Party!

I'm always a little bit confused by those who claim they don't like a certain food because "they never grew up eating it." Well, I'm proof positive that you can break through these barriers! My parents would rather starve than dine on succulent raw fish, so they are obviously major haters of sushi. My mom also orders steak at a five star restaurant well done so I suppose her need for cooked fish is no surprise.

After having a bit too many tastings of wine, I purchased a sushi mat at Robert Sinskey Vineyardsin NapaValley. I suppose that after shelling out our life savings on wine bottles, it was a welcome sight to see something cost less than $5 & the bargain shopper in me couldn't resist. Oh, and isn't drunk shopping the best kind? :) In any case, the sushi mat has been sitting in my cupboard for months until hubby and I finally decided to take the plunge & have ourselves a little sushi party.

Rolling the sushi was much easier than I expected though I still have plenty of room for improvement. Follow oneof the many tutorials online and you'll be a pro in no time! Be sure not to overstuff and you'll be fine. Finding the right balance between fish, veggies & rice was the biggest challenge for me. Some rolls, like the first picture had too much rice while others didn't have enough. For those in the area, El Pescadoris an excellent source for yummy fish.

Sake (Salmon) Sweet Chili Maki:

Here's the sushi rice recipe we followed, based on the 4-5 websites and cookbooks I had open at the same time. Feel free to scale down the recipe; the ratio of rice to water is about 1 1/4 cups of water to 1 cup of rice.

Place the rice in a fine sieve and rinse with cool water. Continue to rinse and toss rice until water runs clear.

Place the 2 cups of rice into a medium sized saucepan and cover with 2 1/4 cups of water. Bring the water to a boil. Once the water is boiling, reduce the heat and cover. Cook for 15 minutes and then remove the rice from the heat, covered for 10 minutes.

In a small saucepan, combine the rice vinegar, sugar and salt. Heat until the sugar dissolves.

Once the rice has set, pour into a shallow bowl. It's important to cool the rice down quickly so either have someone else help you to fan the rice or bring over an electric fan. With fan blowing on rice, mix in the rice vinegar mixture and use cutting strokes to mix in the seasoning. Take care to cover all of the rice with the seasoning.

Cover with a damp kitchen towel & allow rice to come to room temperature before using.

Sprinkle salmon with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a skillet and sauté salmon for about 2-3 minutes on each side. Allow to cool and gently flake salmon.When rolling sushi, line salmon down the rice and pour sweet chili sauce alongside. Include cucumbers or avocado if desired & follow sushi rolling technique above.

I love going to Sinskey. Last time I was there I tried a certain Pinot Noir and really enjoyed it. I thought they were $30 a bottle which is cheap for good Pinot. However I read the thing wrong and it was really $90 a bottle. I told the woman I wanted a case and almost died when she brought me the bill. No wonder she was so happy. I didn't have the heart to tell her...now I own a case avery expensive Pinot!